Three Reasons Why Obama's BlackBerry Is A National Security THREAT

aux.link.: Three reasons why Obama's BlackBerry is a national security THREAT

Reformed Taliban Mullah Uses iPhone, Encourages High Tech Afghans

aux.link.: FOXNews.com - Mullah Embraces iPhone in Afghan Tech Boom

US Lagging Far Behind In Broadband Services

aux.link.: Report: US must have universal gigabit broadband by 2015

Are We Secure? China's Counterfeit Cisco Routers

aux.link: World Tribune — FBI: China may use counterfeit Cisco routers to penetrate U.S. networks

RUSH: Cubans Granted Mobile Phone Sales, Use

aux.link: FOXNews.com - Cubans Mob Cell Phone Stores as Service Becomes Available

This is great, though a very small start. I hope there are plenty of old Chevy and Trabant body shop mechanics ready for a swell in business...

US Intel Agencies Using Google Appliances

aux.link: CIA enlists Google's help for spy work - Times Online

Security Concerns Halt 3com + Huawei Deal

aux.link: Bain ends 3Com deal

Thank God- this was quite unsettling news that I caught wind of in January. Glad some folks a little higher on the food chain thought so as well.

"Bain said on Thursday that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had said it would block the $2.2 billion deal that would also have given Huawei, China's biggest network equipment maker, a minority stake of up to 21.5 percent in 3Com. Several U.S. lawmakers have complained that the deal threatened national security due to Huawei's alleged ties to the Chinese military. 3Com sells security technology and network equipment to government agencies and large businesses.

Huawei had maintained that it is a private company owned by employees, but founder Ren Zhengfei was a former People's Liberation Army soldier. Huawei and 3Com representatives were not immediately available for comment."

Bain was trying to make it happen even after the security concerns were raised! I can't stand companies that don't consider ethics and security like this. Romney, go slap 'em up.

Middle Eastern Investors Eyeing US Telcos

aux.link: Kuwait's Investment Dar eyes U.S. telecom firm Reuters

This is the kind of stuff that scares me. Not that Kuwait is an enemy - as they're actually one of the friendliest countries in that region - but they're still not the country I'd chose if we had a foriegn buyout of any section of our country's telecommunications infrastructure. Why not Canada? I think I'm going to be ill.

A Note To Steve Jobs / Apple's Political Agenda

aux.link: YouTube - Randy Newman - Macworld Expo 2008, Apple Keynote, Part 1/3

Babbling nonsense, especially hate against America, with no tune from a crotchety, old, senile man, does not make the embarassment of his existance on stage at an electronics tradeshow 'entertainment'. WTF is Apple thinking these days? Oh, but he was conveniently playing a piano while comparing President Bush to Hitler and Stalin, so it's ok. Everyone clap along.

Is he really that extraordinary, Steve? That's frighteningly telling for an otherwise visionary man like yourself. Why couldn't you have snagged U2 to close out your keynote speech instead? You know, someone your global audience generally likes and respects? Your company may make the best consumer IT products on the market of which I am becoming more of a fan, but that doesn't keep you from being a total douchebag. I feel equal parts cutting-edge and dirty every time I pick up my iPhone now. I knew Apple was fairly 'left', but this goes beyond the pale.

Antics like this and your incessant showcasing of The New York Times in every one of your product advertisements demonstrating any Internet capabilities, zooming in on questionable articles of obvious intent, keeps me from leaving my HP Xeon workstation behind for a new Mac Pro. Wake up and realize that your target market isn't full of Paulitards and environmentaljihadists any longer. Spin your energy attempting to mislead others about global affairs into giving us a 3G iPhone already. Marketing is obviously your place in society, not politics. A global showcase of great products to attract more market share - not less - is the worst place possible to advertise your ideologies. Give it up- quick.

Wow, Randy Newman isn't black. I had no idea.

Bain Capital, Chinese Firm Privatise 3Com

aux.link: 3Com to sell itself to Bain Capital, Huawei Tech for 2 bln usd - Forbes.com

And also from my other entry today above, "Bain Capital is partnering with China's Huawei Technologies in a buyout of 3Com, the U.S. company that provides the technology that protects Pentagon computers from Chinese hackers." -Pat Buchanan

Old news I somehow didn't catch last year. Our government's VOIP systems, Ethernet switches, WAN routers - or in essence, their internal network and telecommunications backbone - now all controlled by the Chinese, in part. Somebody call up Mitt Romney and tell him to talk some sense into his old establishment, Bain Capital, the other part. Suddenly, my model 3103 phone doesn't look that cool anymore. Hmm, wonder what Cisco has now...

With the recent economic headlines dealing with such foreign investment, now I'm starting to get uncomfortable. And as a telecom guy, this bit in particular.

Controversy Stirs Over Federal 'Real ID' Program

aux.link: New Driver's License Rules Are Issued - WSJ.com

And this is bad... why? Secure, domestic passports would provide us better security, help to stomp out fake IDs, and keep the illegal aliens honest (and heading south). Especially if they contained an embedded 64k memory chip (re: SIM card technology) holding vital data for emergency or security personnel.

Packet Sniffing Coming To An IP Pipe Near You

aux.link: AT&T and Other ISPs May Be Getting Ready to Filter

Now that I'm out of college with a job (in telecommunications dealing with AT&T every day, no less) and a nice income where I don't have the desire to pirate any longer, I fully support this measure. I see no harm or foul in filtering out the blatantly illegal content online like copywritten movies that were just released 3 hours ago. Keep in mind that cops in these United States will come close your pirated DVD stand up on the streets of NYC, but the protests still occur in Berkeley and red light district enterprises everywhere continue to stay open in specifically zoned areas. They're not proposing China here, folks.

YHPS Now Coming At You Untethered

Posting from my new BlackBerry 8800 would come in handy more frequently if I were some reporter on the beat inside the Beltway. But having the power to be one if I so suddenly decided is comforting. However, I suppose you need a decent-sized audience to be of any real importance... so perhaps this device and rate plan was a futile effort at nothing.

For right now, I'll just stick to being a dude on the patio of an Italian restaurant in North Dallas, making my way through a bottle of Chianti, and venting about environmentaljihadists. Isn't technology great?
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Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Chicken In Every Pot, Microchip In Every Arm

Sure this may not be a very conservative thing to start backing, but this is the 21st century. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags in everyone over the age of 18 ought to be mandatory, right when you get your booster shot before going to college as an adult. Think of the advantages; wouldn't you like to know if you take a walk in the park with your daughter that a sex offender is deciding to also take a stroll closeby? RFID alerts can come in handy via SMS on your mobile phone at-hand, especially for criminals who are blacklisted in a system monitoring their wherabouts. F*** their civil rights- they lost those when they knocked up that 12-year old last year.

Go ahead- tell me this is not one of the best ways to not just fight crime, but prevent terrorism. What have you got to hide?

Microchip Implants Raise Privacy Concern

Iranians Beat Authoritarianism With Mobiles

Makes sense when your government is so backwards that they don't understand how to keep much of a reign on the latest Western technologies. Gotta love this.

"But more than anything, the rise of shared videos alarms the government, to the degree that private service providers can no longer offer MMS — multimedia services — until appropriate filters are developed.

That won’t stop bawdy file sharers like Balthazar, who owns an impressive collection of clips. "Haven’t these idiots ever heard of Bluetooth?" he asks, before offering a Photoshopped video of Ahmadinejad at a circus. Hint: The president is not sitting in the audience."

A 'Celler's' Market for Information in Iran